Job Discussion Forums

[eagle_eye]

My partner and I are looking at a job together in south east China teaching children where we will earn 5,000RMB per month each. This is our first TEFL job, he has a degree, i do not. We both have a 20-hour TEFL certificate and over a year working with kids in a teaching sort of role.

Accommodation is provided near the school and return airfares up to $1000 USD after the year is up. We will work 17 hours per week over 5 days, plus 2 hours of admin. Overtime pay is 100RMB per hour.

Is this pay acceptable? How much will we be able to save for future travels after our contract has finished?

Your help is appreciated.

Elle.

[Giantbudwiser]

Well depending on the city you will be staying in you 2 can live comfortably on 1000 a week with food, nanny, and reasonable partying the rest should just be money in the bank. Then again you neva know..lol. the class hours and salary for a first timer and no degree look great, you should take the offer and see what you see, ask for the contact info of other FT working there or who has worked there. If the school cant or wont then something fishy is probably going on.

[Papa Lazaru]

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[yamahuh]

Your quantity of savings will be inversely proportional to the quality of life you are looking for. By quality of life I am making the assumption that you will be wanting to eat out, go to clubs, travel, buy stuff like DVD's, clothes, memorabilia etc.
My wife and I eat out a couple of nights a week @ our own expense, we are fortunate enough to be taken out a couple of additional times per week by our employer or his friends. The meals we eat on our own budget are very inexpensive (2 plates of noodles and meat with spices and a couple of beers for about $2 Cdn). We don't go to too many restaurants by ourselves just yet because, quite simply, ordering from a menu that you can't understand is a little intimidating. We tend to go to the street cafes where you can at least point. We go out for beers once in a while and buy groceries to cook at home the rest of the time.
The city we live in is in the SW close to Nanning and, unless you like Karaoke, there isn't a whole lot to do in the evenings.
Forced savings now means more for travel later

[quanxie]

Making 5000 each you should be able to save a significant amount... (maybe 5000+ per month).. As already pointed out, it will depend on your life style. ..


As to the job specs, an important issue is whether they mean 17 classes or 17 hours, it will make a big difference in the hourly wage. I would have them make it 17 class periods.

Good luck,
Phil

[oatgnist]

If we look at the various numbers, it does not sound too bad.

In which city is the school , though ? That will matter.

[latefordinner]

As everyone else notes, it depends. Out in the boonies 5000 is a prince's ransom, but there ain't much to spend it on. You have to go to the cities to find many of life's more decadent pleasures, but then life can get expensive quick. I've been living in Dalian (a moderately expensive city) for three years, and I usually spend less than 2000 a month on myself. I usually do my own cooking though, and rarely go out clubbing. Always have, so it's not as if I'm sacrificing anything there. I imagine that if I did go out a couple of evenings a week and ate out every night, my pay would evaporate rather quickly.
In my (rather limited) experience, the biggest cost factor is the uncertainty of getting paid. Just one bad employer can wreck a whole year.

[ContemporaryDog]

I definitely think that by far the biggest factor in how much you spend is how much you want to go out to clubs and bars. I mean one beer in the average bar costs 20 yuan, which is enough for a decent meal at a lot of cafes.

In my first few months here I used to spend 300-400 yuan in a night out, and saved very little. But since then I have been much more careful and now my monthly spending is only about 1800 and I save around 4000 a month.

BTW if you saved 50,000 yuan that would be enough to travel aorund for about six months if you went to the cheaper parts (which tend to be the msot interesting ones anyway: Yangshuo, Yunnan, Sichuan, Xinjiang etc)

[Madmaxola]

easy answer

4000 RMB each

[BluePinay]

[ContemporaryDog]

Yeah, how many schools will pay 100 per hour AND free accommodation, bills, etc?

My pay at school only works out to around 63 per 40 minute class, but then I don't have to worrry about any of the above. Usually one's choice is to work freelance for 100 per hour, which means going around many different schools etc, and paying rent, bills, blah blah blah, or getting a lower rate but having the convenience of not having to worry about bills.

[Roger]

The salary is quite reasonable, believe me! I assume you are not going to be posted to big Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Even in those big monster cities some teachers make both ends meet on 3500 a month, though, of course, they are not dining out or partying around much. Many Chinese white-collars earn more than they do.

But you must lookat your workload, and in my opinion you are not exactly overloaded. Let's clarify things a little: Make sure you are working TEACHING HOURS, also known as "CONTACT HOURS, which include the break between or after a lesson. If not, it could be a boomerang.

Also, you mentioned "CHILDREN". What age? If they are KINDERGARTEN pupils, your periods will be no longer than 30 minutes; I can't believe you are going to be paid 5000 for 17 periods of half an hour each a week, though.
Although I hasten to add that kindergartens usually pay better; it normally is somewhere around 8000 for 20 to a little more PERIODS (of half an hour).
I don't agree at all with that computation of RMB 73 an hour as claimed by someone here; this is an unfair number crunching attempt. You also cost your employer for housing, visa, holidays and airfare.

[globalguru]

I live in a smallish city (not in the South) and find that spending 2,000 or more in a month requires quite a bit of splurging. So unless you're dreadfully extravagant, you should be able to save plenty. I say this as someone who enjoys restaurants, bars, certain Western products, DVDs, and some traveling. Cooking some will do wonders for your savings

[Papa Lazaru]

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[struelle]